New name for National Front

Marine Le Pen has proposed changing her party’s name at National Rally #CongrèsFN2018 in Lille (France) from National Front to «Rassemblement national» for imprinting the evolution it lived under her leadership.

The current name is a “psychological barrier” for voters, Marine Le Pen continued, regretting that in spite of its “glorious and epic history”, the name of FN has impediments.

The plan to change the party’s name was approved by a slim majority, and members will vote again on the proposal.

The FN leader said she reflected a lot about the issue, and the announced name is a fruit of this profound thought. However it is obvious that as a name «Rassemblement national», which can be translated as ‘National Unity’, is lacking dynamism, having too many syllables, unlike short and expressive National Front. It is also breaking the tradition for National Front militants, used to call themselves “Frontist” who are risking to be dabbed “Nationalists”, because the second word in the new name is shorter and easier to apply.

Changing name is not an unusual practice in French political life, the centre-right party The Union for a Popular Movement (UMP) has changed the name for the “Republicans” (2015), raising a wave of criticism for lacking imagination, and lending the denomination from the other side of the Atlantic.